POLITICAL HISTORY 



favourably to the king, for the earl's lands fell to him, and he had also in his 

 hands Clare Castle and manor (for Elizabeth Damory had ' left the king 

 without permission ') as well as that of Eye. This, however, made little 

 difference to the rebellious spirit of the county. During the anxious months 

 from December, 1325, to September, 1326, when Isabella the queen was daily 

 expected to land on the Suffolk coast with an army of English refugees and 

 French mercenaries, it refused to pay for signal beacons or to make prepara- 

 tions to repel the invasion, 1 though Robert de Ufford, Thomas de Latymer, 

 and Richard de la Ryvere were duly appointed arrayors. The king * spent some 

 weeks [26 December to 14 February] going nervously upand down the county 

 superintending the defences. John de Sturmy, 3 admiral of the north fleet, 

 guarded the coast and held Orford Castle, while the ports of Ipswich, Orwell, 

 Bawdsey, Orford, and Dunwich were left to the watch of what forces the 

 arrayors could raise. They watched in vain, for in September Isabella and 

 Mortimer landed unopposed on the coast, probably at Landguard Point, near 

 Walton. The county flocked to her army at every step, and she proceeded 

 triumphantly to Bury, where * she levied contributions and laid violent hands 

 on treasure stored there. John de Sturmy, 5 probably as the price of his 

 treachery, was confirmed in his custody of the castle and town of Orford. 



The minority of Edward III and the reign of Mortimer and Isabella 

 did not make for a strong central control, and the local conditions became 

 deplorable. The attempt of Edward I to assimilate all justice under one 

 system had come to nought under his son, and now the eight and a half 

 hundreds which were under Bury's jurisdiction were absolutely lawless. 

 The magnates were little better than robbers, and in 1328 the king issued 

 an order prohibiting any earl or baron from seeking adventures or doing 

 feats of arms. 8 Some sought adventure nevertheless in kidnapping 7 the 

 abbot of Bury, and his fate was unknown for days. To this normal state of 

 lawlessness was added the distraction of Kent's rebellion. Robert de Ufford 8 

 raised the county against 9 Sir William de Cleydon and John fitz-Simond and 

 the widow of John de Nerford, and was rewarded by receiving the custody 

 of the town and castle of Orford. Night and day the county was harassed 

 by armed robbers, for the commissioners of the peace were lax in the 

 performance of their duties. A certain band countenanced by the sheriff 

 made 10 Stowmarket church their head quarters and thence issued to terrorize 

 the neighbourhood. They drove Sir Richard de Amundeville from his house 

 at Thorney. As late as 1344 men were riding with banners displayed, 

 taking men, imprisoning and holding them to ransom, perpetrating 

 homicides, arsons, and other evils. An attempt to widen the powers of the 

 sheriff brought a protest from the abbot of Bury. Sir Robert de Ufford 

 was the king's right hand, and in 1337 was rewarded with the earldom of 

 Suffolk. 11 The same year the decisions of the council on the French war were 

 laid before the men of Suffolk at Bury by him, supported by Hugh de Saxham 

 and Ralph de Bockyng, seneschal of St. Edmunds. The war was not popular at 

 the outset, and the commissioners of array, empowered to arrest recalcitrant 



1 Cal. of Pat. 1 3 24-7, p. 3 1 1 . 

 4 Cal. of Close, 1327-30, p. 249. 

 ' Cal. of Close, 1327-30, p. 407. 

 8 Cal. of Pat. 1327-30, p. 571. 

 10 Cal. of Pat. 1 340-3, p. 3 1 3. 



' Ibid. p. 200 et seq. * Ibid. p. 243. 



6 Cal. of Pat. 1327-30, 36. 



7 Ibid. p. 442. 



' Cal. of Close, 1327-30, p. 471 fasslm. 

 11 Cal. of Close, 1337-9, P- 6o - 



